Fly swatter



V. J. MLKELLER FLY SWATTER June 5, 1945.

Filed Feb. .5, 194:5

Patented June 5, 1945 UNITED STATESv PATENT OFFICE FLY sWA'r'rRl Victor James Mueller, Peoria, Ill. Application February 5, 1943, Serial No. 474,891

2 Claims.

This invention relates to fly swatters and has for its particular object the provision of improved stru-cture which permits more effective use of the 1 device with less liability for damage to furniture and bric-a-brac.

Another object is to provide a swatter of much lighter and more durable construction. Other objects and benefits will be disclosed in the following descriptions and drawing in which: Fig, 1 is a broken front elevation view showing one form of the invention; and

Fig. 2 is a side elevation view of the swatter shown in Fig. 1 as it would appear on the section lines 2--2 of Fig, 1.

Now referring to the drawing and at the outset, I will describe a preferred form of my improved swatter. A conventional handle I having a central slot II in its top is alxed to the striker screen l2 which is made of fine strand plastic or fabric material by the staple I5 as shown. The screen I2 is bound in the conventional manner by the felt cloth binding I3 held on the screen by stitching I4.

It will be appreciated that all of the foregoing structure is conventional. In the conventional interpretation of this structure, the striker screen is actually common metallic window screen Wire with the wires of substantial thickness as would be desirable for window screen service. The wires are of soft steel having only slight resiliency and being prone to bending and setting in irregular shape. Strikers made from screen Wire are much heavier than necessary. The screen wire when hitting any projection buckles andenvelopes the projection and the full force of the impact is delivered at this point, often resulting in damage. After repeated buckling, the wire screen striker soon assumes a permanent set in a roughly warped surface that encourages the user to strike harder blows in order to properly hit atly and kill flies. Thus the faults of this type of striker are multiplied. After a rather short period of use such strikers, often with broken Wires, cause considerable damage to furniture and bric-a-brac.

In my improved swatter, I use a very light striker screen made of flne strand plastic or fabric material which has suflicient inherent stiffness to remain flat and even support itself in an upright position to a height of from six to twelve inches. The screen is so flexible and resilient that it will not take a sharp permanent set by any normal blow of this light material over a projection. Further, the screen is of fairly flne strands with large openings so as to avoid excessive fanning action which is fatal to proper swatting. This is a serious defect in strikers using twisted paper or coarse fiber netting.

In developing my present invention I have made strikers out of many kinds of synthetic plastics, including phenolic condensation products, acrylate resins, caseins and cellulosic materials. I have used these materials in many forms, both separately or applied as a covering on fabric. In all these forms, I adhere to my principle of light weight and although such materials are very light, I use them sparingly in thin sections.

The conventional metallic strikers referred to above fail in service because they are so light and exible that they will not take the whip action of swatting and remain flat and paddlelike in order to be effective.

In order to make my ideal light and flexible striker effective, I weave into it two light springy. steel wires, I6 and Il as clearly shown in Figs. 1

and 2. The wires I6 and I'l are spaced apart and substantially symmetrically arranged with respect to the center of the striker or blade I2. In passing through the screen wire of the blade, the wires I6 and I1 produce in the screen wire projecting portions thereof on opposite sides of the blade, each projecting portion having several screen openings crossed by each of the reinforcing wires. 'I'he projecting portions on each side of the blade are substantially in the samev plane, as shown in Fig. 2. These wires are sufficiently stiff to support the screen during the swatting action, and although flexing slightly will enable the screen to be struck flatly, the wires being sufficiently stiff to prevent them from being permanently bent or set by any normal blow of my light swatter.

It will be appreciated further that with a light swatter, having a flexible resilient striker, it is practically impossible to strike an enveloping blow that will hang on a knob or projection because the screen has a denite tendency to slide orf. This tendency is augmented Iby the naturally smooth and slippery character of the surface of the non-metallic striker. The entire striker is only a fraction of the weight of conventional wire screen.

Although I show a pair of wires, IB and I1, parallel to the center line of theswatter, which is an economical and effective structure, I fully understand and appreciate that many variations inthe arrangement of the wires are possible to produce like results.

I claim:

1. A fly swatter blade comprising a purely plastic fabric having uniformly spaced openings of sufIicient size to enable the blade to be adaptable the blade, each projecting portion having several openings crossed by one of the reinforcing elements and the projecting portions on each side positioned in substantially the same plane,

2. A fly swatter blade comprising a purely plastic fabric having fine non-metallic strands interwoven with uniform spacing approximately throughout the area of the blade providing openings of suiiicient size to enable the blade to be adaptable for use as a striker, said plastic fabric being of a type and construction inherently supple and freely bendable and readily flexed by its own weight, and resilient metal reinforcing elements interwoven through certain of the intermesh openings to straighten out and maintain the blade in such condition that projections are formed on opposite sides of the blade, the projections along each wire on each side covering approximately the same number of openings and positioned in substantially the same plane.

VICTOR JAMES MUELLER. 

